1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices and methods of playing a game of chance, which could be implemented in any of the following: a table game, a hybrid game, a machine game, an online game, a board game or a video game. More specifically, the present invention relates to a casino style game of chance utilizing a number of novel wheels, or representations of wheels, wherein garners can place individual bets, progressive jackpot bets or parlay bets all within the same game.
2. Background of the Invention
The gaming industry has expanded dramatically over the years, as people have more free time and disposable income to gamble. Constantly, the gaming industry has sought development of new games that would increase user amusement and satisfaction, and therefore generate more revenue for the game provider or operator. However, over the years, generally the same games have been played with little variations. Variety on the casino floors could draw different garners to the casino, as well as provide a new outlet for enjoyment for traditional game players.
Many games of chance are well known, including roulette, blackjack, slot machines, wheel of fortune, poker, the BIG 6 wheel and daily lotteries. These games of chance generally have a limited number of wagers. Games such as craps are difficult to learn and may not attract as many players due to the complexity of the rules. An easily understood game allowing for multiple unique wagers would create more player enjoyment and involvement.
Some currently available games provide the use of wheels or reels to create a winning event and award the player a prize. Other games offer players the option of placing a progressive jackpot bet. Very few games provide players the option of a parlay style bet, which could increase enjoyment for garners who are interested in more than conventional independent betting systems. Further, many of these games may have complicated rules or few wagering outcomes available.
3. Description of the Related Art
Often, the teachings of the prior art use methods and devices to implement progressive jackpots, however these games are generally associated with a conventional game and do not adequately generate a wide variety of unique wagering options, and therefore do not adequately excite or entice gamers. Progressive jackpot games are well known in the prior art, generally in the form of card games. Often the player can make a wager on a card game to enter the game, and the player can make an additional optional wager on a progressive jackpot component of the game. If the player's hand comprises a predetermined arrangement of cards and the player has opted to make the second wager, the player will be awarded the preselected portion of the progressive jackpot prize. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,861,041, 5,626,341, 5,707,287, 5,795,225 and 5,951,011 all describe methods of progressive betting methods in card games. U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,400 describes a method of playing an electronic pari-mutuel gaming device that can display credits a player accrued and allocate a progressive jackpot among players pooled together in linked electronic gaming systems. Further, Richard J. Jordan, (U.S. Pat. No. 6,416,409) teaches of a system and a method of providing a progressive bonus from a wager pool to devices in a set of linked gaming machines, where each machine has a designated bonus outcome, and can produce the outcome after determining that the pool is large enough to produce the determined prize. U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,199 discloses a plurality of independent game machines connected together to allow transmission of data so players can play a game at the same time, however, it does not suggest or teach of allowing players to engage in progressive betting or parlay betting styles. All these games from the prior art may implement progressive jackpots to more traditional games, which increases wagering options by the progressive wager, but does not add additional variety to the casino floor.
Some progressive games include wheels, but still do not elicit user excitement because they are generally associated with conventional games or bonus wheels and do not provide unique forms of game play. Progressive jackpots are occasionally implemented in games with wheels. Busch et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,659) describes a method of playing roulette, including a roulette wheel, a conventional betting layout and a progressive jackpot layout. This invention combines the progressive betting layout with a game including a wheel. However, this game is still a variation of the conventional roulette game, and does not provide a novel gaming layout, a novel betting layout, nor does it teach of using multiple wheels containing novel symbols for unique game play. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,798 teaches of a roulette game which offers a progressive jackpot wager through utilization of a plurality of coin acceptors to enable players to place an optional progressive jackpot wager. As in the '659 patent, the '798 patent does not teach or suggest the novel layout of the current invention, and does not incorporate a parlay betting scheme. Further, Richard G. Eman et al., (U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,650) describes an automated roulette device with a central processor and a progressive jackpot. These games incorporating progressive jackpots to conventional betting formats, which expands wagering options and user amusement to an extent, but still implements traditional game rules and odds, reducing variety of game play.
Many games incorporate wheels or reels to generate a random event, however, these games are often limited in wagering options, and consequentially are limited in player interest and amusement. Webb et al., (U.S. Pat. No. 7,431,649) discloses a gaming system with at least one input, at least one display, a processor, and multiple selection indicators, that cause at least one of the symbol indicators to indicate an award symbol. The award indicator can take the form of a wheel, with symbols representing different prizes. This feature of using a bonus wheel to determine additional prizes is somewhat common in gaming. Further, the teachings of Paulina Rodgers et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,425,177) describes a gaming device operated by a processor, including a primary wheel with a plurality of sections, associated with a modifier and different characteristics, and a plurality of secondary wheels with sections each associated with a value to activate the primary wheel and provide a prize. These inventions incorporate a basic gaming format, and do not allow a gamer to place a wide range of wagering options, thereby limiting gamer excitement.
Spinning reel games are well known in the prior art, and often utilize a number of cylindrical reels, containing symbols on their outer circumferences, that rotate about an axis in response to a gamer activating the game. When the reels stop spinning, the gamer can win a prize if the reels provide a particular configuration of symbols that designate a winning configuration. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,820 discloses a hierarchy of simulated wheels which are used to simulate the spinning of a slot machine reel to display a winning combination of puzzle pieces. Other patents using reels and wheels in casino include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,823,874 and 5,848,932, which contain wheel bonus games, with a static indicator, such as a stationary pointer, that remains motionless while the mechanical wheel rotates. Reel games often do not provide gamers as many wagering options as wheel games, since a wheel allows more symbols to be located about its circumference.
The teachings of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20090137303 A1 disclose a device consisting of a vertically oriented hollow enclosed wheel rotated at a constant rate with a series of cavities along the inner surface of an enclosed wheel's periphery to prevent the game pieces, such as elastic balls, from falling out, as the player attempts to time the release of game pieces from a holding area into a particular cavity to trigger a signal and win a prize. Marnell et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,363) discloses use of a “WHEEL OF FORTUNE” wheel as a variation to an electronic poker or other card game. Tjark Bergmann (U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,616) discloses a process for operating a slot machine that works as a roulette wheel. Barbara Mangano et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,658) describes a bonus game device and method with a primary and a secondary gaming structure, each with five concentrically arranged wheels each containing symbols of an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten and a wild symbol. Morro et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,121) discloses a computer implemented game process of controlling a display of an image outside the housing. Additional patents using reels and wheels include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,823,874 and 5,848,932. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,533,660 discloses a game with a plurality of balls and a jumbler, which could be a wheel to create the winning outcome.
Some patents cover the structure of gaming wheels. One such patent, by inventor Ah-Him Chong Toc Chee, (U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,647) explains a roulette assembly with a lower wheel divided into a plurality of sections, each representative of at least one of a unique number and a unique color and an upper wheel, containing many unique sections, mounted on the lower wheel so that the two wheels spin and rotate until they slow to a stop together indicating a unique number and color combination. Another patented wheel game describes an alphabetic roulette game taught by Ilievski (U.S. Pat. No. 7,204,488) including a roulette wheel with twenty-five positions, each representing the twenty-six letters of the Roman alphabet, with one position having a double letter. The alphabetic positions on the wheel correspond with positions on a table or other wagering surface and may be colored to allow players to place wagers on letters or colors.
Some games incorporate use of wheels with an internal indicator allowing the wheel to stop at a predetermined outcome on the wheel. One such game is defined in U.S. Pat. No. 7,226,357, invented by Olaf Vancura. The '357 patent discloses a method of using a processor to operate a vertically oriented mechanical wheel casino game assembly utilizing a freely moving internal indicator, such as a ball, within a housing, that can freely and randomly move into one possible outcome segment in a plurality of possible uniform outcome segments, each representing a value and containing a sensor under the control of the processor to award a winning payout. Similarly, U.S. Patent Application 20070155481 A1, also invented by Olaf Vancura, explains a method of operating a casino game of chance with a mechanical housing divided into a plurality of segments wherein the mechanical housing is spun under control of a processor, a freely moving internal indicator randomly selects one set of possible outcome sets from a plurality of uniform sets located in the mechanical housing at a predetermined location, sensed by the processor and associated with an award.
A few games implement a plurality of wheels to create more random events; however, said games generally are extensions of traditional games and often do not allow multiple different forms of wagering options. The teaching of Hughes-Watts (U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,072) discloses a method and apparatus for betting on a plurality of roulette wheels that are spun simultaneously. The indicia on the disclosed invention relate to roulette. A game of chance that involves unique indicia is described in Luciano et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,512) including a gaming device with a plurality of separate groups of rotatable wheels, each group having a plurality of rotatable wheels with a viewable annular surface with at least one indicia on each of the viewable annular surfaces, at least one pay line Further, the patent discloses a drive mechanism to rotate the plurality of wheels and stop the wheels in a position wherein the occurrence of a predetermined combination of the indicia on the pay line creates a winning combination. This invention relates to concentric wheels and groups of wheels in a combined structure, and does not teach of implementing a progressive jackpot nor does it teach of parlay betting, and is therefore limited in wagering options.
Few games incorporate parlay betting, and even fewer are available on the casino floor. Most parlay bets that are available are offered in sports books. Some patents, however, do cover methods of parlay betting, such as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20080054560 A1, which discloses a method of playing a game of chance comprising placing at least one wager on at least one number from a plurality of wagering zones on a game board, table, computer screen, or electronic game screen, that generates a first number set, that when added together produces a sum, wherein the wager will win if the sum matches one of said plurality of numbers chosen in the wagering zone. The method further provides for parlaying at least a portion of a first wager and betting in a second wager that a second number set, having at least two numerical members, will match the first number set. Although this invention teaches of using a parlay bet in combination with a table game, it requires generating number sets and adding together their values. Additionally, the invention does not disclose a progressive jackpot feature.
The teachings in Potter, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,003) disclosed a method of a parlay side bet added to a base casino game wherein a player places a side bet prior to playing the base game. If the outcome of the side bet results in a win, the side bet is increased and parlayed into the base casino game as a wager. If the side bet game results in a push, the side bet is parlayed into the base casino game as a wager and the base game begins. However, if the outcome of the side bet game is a loss, then the player loses the side bet, but may place another wager for the base game. Patent application publication, U.S. 20030207706 A1 discloses a side bet system method integrated with a casino game wherein a player places a wager to participate in a side bet, that may result in a win to be paid out a predetermined amount and applied to the base casino game, or may result in a loss of all or some of the side wager, where the remainder will be applied to the base casino game. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,805 provides a method for operating two bonus games in a casino game machine having a multi-reel, multi-pay line casino base game, where play of the first and second bonus games is based on predetermined orientation of bonus symbols during the base game. Although all these games add a parlay wagering option to a conventional game layout, thus expanding wagering options, the games do not incorporate new gaming layouts.
Frequently, games are limited in the amount of random event generators used. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20090156284 A1 provides a game and a method with wagering numbers and/or letters, and/or symbols and/or colors and/or groups of these upon which players can place bets, a random number generator to generate a winning number, identifiable playing chips allowing each player to make multiple identifiable bets on the board, wherein the winner of the entire jackpot is the player or players that placed the bet on the winning position or closest to it.
Valenti (U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,978) describes a method of playing a numerical game of chance including a parlay and a bonus option, wherein the player selects a series of five numbers from a set of eighty numbers and makes a wager, and then does it again, making another wager. The player is given the option of combining the first series of five numbers and second series of five numbers with a wager. This gives a player multiple ways to win and allows for parlay bets, while still having limited indicia to wager upon, since this game is limited to numeric indicia.
Further, patent application publication, U.S. 20050208996 A1 defines a method of implementing a wagering game, including receipt of cash, conversion into playable money, a player wagers on two or more independently determined events with varying odds and wager amounts, and the outcomes of the events are determined. Similar inventions, U.S. Pat. No. 7,367,562 and U.S. Patent Application Publication 20090250872 A1 teach of a method of playing a game of chance comprising the steps of having at least one player wager at least one wager in a set of wagers, defining a set of wagers on the result of a plurality of differentiable random events, where the events make an aggregate event, defining a set of payout odds associated with the wagers, then generating the plurality of differentiable random events, and paying out winning wagers according to the payout odds described above. Double wagers are based on non-equal, non-consecutive, non-sum total combinations of two outcomes from only two random events selected and trifecta wagers are based on non-equal, non-consecutive, non-sum total combinations of three outcomes from only three random events. Additionally, the inventions disclose that the random event may be generated by many means, including by one or more prize wheels or one or more roulette type wheels. This invention allows for parlay betting of aggregate groups, but does not disclose a progressive jackpot between multiple players, and actually suggests that players would feel uncomfortable and dislike wagering against other players, as would occur during progressive gaming.